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Chapter VII

LEGACY

Kindle

The entire base was in a panic.

I found myself running around like a chicken with its head cut off amongst the ongoing pandemonium, not knowing where to go next or who to check up on. There was just confusion and disarray and everyone felt its lasting effects, and I was forced into trying to stay as calm and cool about the entire situation. That method failed just as quickly as I attempted it.

Ex was gone. He had escaped, injured the two men who were sworn into protecting him, and was now God knows where. He could be dead at this very moment and I would never know for sure. I couldn't possibly know how he escaped without being seen--could his transparent ability come in handy?--before he managed to evade the soldiers sent after him to stop him from escaping, but I knew once he was out of the dome that he would be impossible to track down precisely. If there was one thing I knew about Ex, he would move around constantly and make it difficult to trace his exact location. I assumed he was either dead or in hiding, and I couldn't blame him. Dartha had taken over the facility and forced my men to chase him down and kill him

She failed. It was her fault Ex decided to escape, and how he knew about the coup, I couldn't figure out. He had to have been eavesdropping on the conversation or else he couldn't possibly know about it, and I figured he was still in bed resting from the days' worth of training.

While taking a seat in my desk, I went through the video records to see if I could spot anything out of the ordinary. There were no signs of him moving throughout the base or even dropping in on our conversation, and I knew he couldn't have mastered his transparency ability yet. I looked through the tapes at least a dozen times before rubbing my eyes from careful strain, still finding nothing that could hint to me that he was there during the violent conversation. I looked through a few more times before my eyes gave up. I ended up wasting a good two hours looking over video footage, two hours I could've used to figure out how he escaped and why he injured his caretakers.

I couldn't fathom his reasons. I rubbed my eyes and shut off the screen, hunching over my desk trying to find an answer. Even our best drones were scouting for miles on end trying to find him with no signs of luck. Wherever he was, I figured he had to be far away so our drones couldn't find him, and I had to give him credit on that. He was a smart boy.

Even with all the resources we had at our disposal, I knew tracking him down would prove to be more of a headache than an actual solution. Two men were already dead, that doesn't help considering they were top level government body guards, and two men were seriously injured. How could I explain this terrible news to the president? He wouldn't just fire me. No, that would be too merciful. I didn't want to think of what he would do to me once he found out.

He wouldn't, at least, not for a while. I sighed and stood up from my desk, quickly walking out from my office to a special chamber I had built for captured traitors. The guards let me in without question, and I was finally face to face with Dartha and what was left of her crew. They were all magnetically held against the wall with iron cuffs, each covering their hands and feet and waist. I had the other four muzzled so I didn't have to listen to their complaining, but I left Dartha without one seeing as I needed to speak to her about her treason against the Delta Division. She had to pay for her crimes.

We stared each other down while the guards exited the room. Her stare was cold yet mine was stern and unbreakable. She hissed and struggled against her restraints to no avail. I made sure even Ex himself couldn't escape, and I multiplied that strength times one-hundred. They would have to me ten times their size to come close to breaking those bonds, and I knew for a fact that we could always push up the magnetic field even more if we needed to, but I doubted we needed to do that with these traitors.

Once the door slid shut behind me, I stepped forward and examined them one by one. Dartha was first. I made sure to have her subdued and checked for weapons before bringing her into the room. Looking over to the counter, I saw a pile of guns, knives, and other tools that I figured she and her men were carrying before we took them in. Each one had a muzzle to keep their traps shut while I debriefed them on their current situation, and I was glad I made the call. Two of the scientists were trying to curse me out through their muzzles, but I could hear was muffled and near silent shouting. The soldiers seemed to know better than to struggle against what appeared to be the impossible, and I gave them credit. They had enough brains to understand that.

I went over to Dartha and threw her a disapproving look. "You should've known better than to cross me. That was your first mistake." Before she could interrupt, I cut her off. "You second was that you thought you could sway my men to further your cause and kill Ex, but you underestimated my persuasive abilities and now my men still work for me."

"Ex is a danger," she growled. "The fact that he killed two of my men, injured to of your scientists, and is gone is proof enough! He is a menace--a ticking time bomb--just about to screw up much of the world. He needs to be put down, Kindle, before things get too stirred up."

I sighed, shaking my head while folding my hands behind my back. "The damage has already been done. Had you stayed your blade maybe this fiasco would've been avoided."

She huffed. "I had my orders."

"As do I," I paused, taking my eyes from hers. "I created Ex for the very purpose of being as perfect as possible, but I have realize over the years that perfection is not an attainable goal."

"How long did it take you to figure out an understood philosophy?" she sneered my direction.

I growled but kept my temper in check. "After I realized this revelation, I strived for a new goal: to make Ex as perfect as possible. He would never be perfect, so I would make him to be the best of the best. He would have his flaws like every being on this godforsaken planet, but I accepted those flaws and understood why he was never going to be perfect."

"And you just abandoned your pervious goal? I would've kept trying until one of them came out right," she scoffed.

Shaking my head, I looked to her once again. "Had we scraped Ex, we would've been shut down indefinitely. Once I knew Ex would survive through his teenage years and persevere through his adult years, I was content with keeping him around..."

Once I trailed off, I gave her the chance to study me, and I hated that I gave her that chance. She looked at my body, my posture, and listened over my tone for the next few eerie moments. Once I had realized what she knew, I faced her and gripped her throat, almost digging my claws and ripping everything I could out of her.

She smiled even inches from death. "You wanted him to be your son."

I bared my fangs and growled deeply. "You're lying."

"Oh, come on. You know him better than I do and it took me minutes to figure out your true motive for keeping him around. You wanted a son--a legacy--to live with, but you can't have kids, can you?"

Her words were all painful to hear, but I released my grip on her throat. She had beaten me even while pinned to a wall. I hated myself for letting her see through me and figure me out. I had completely forgotten how good she was at studying people. Damn me and damn her.

I waved my hand aside. "No, I cannot have kids. Through extensive research, I have come to realize I have an extremely rare disease known as kimlyosis syndrome." I turned around. "I'm sure you're well aware of what it is."

She smiled, nodding. "Of course. Though you have plenty of sperm in your testicles, upon meeting the egg of the female the sperm breaks down with the egg and, as a result, cancels any sort of fertilization. I hear this syndrome is so rare that scientists don't even think it even exists."

I scoffed. "Oh, it exists." I paced around the room. "I have been with dozens of women in my life, believing the next would produce a son I would be happy with. It was only after I got myself tested and realized it was not them who were the problem but I instead. I thought I could cure myself with the research we had gathered over time, but I found no immediate solution." I sighed, rubbing my eyes with grief. "It feels like I have my balls chopped off every time I have sex. Nothing comes out of it. There might be pleasure while intercourse is happening, but I still feel pan afterwards since I know I will never receive a child."

From behind, I heard her laugh. "Sounds pretty pathetic to me. Is that why you never killed or got rid of Ex? You wanted him to be your son?"

I shook my head. "No and yes. Genetically, he is not my son, and I am not his father. However, I always wanted a son, and I realized during his maturity that I had a connection with him. He was the only person that I felt content with, and I couldn't fathom with him being killed."

I felt pathetic and useless at this point, and she had already pointed it out to me and to her guards and friends within the room. I made sure nothing was monitored, so I wouldn't have to worry about anything being recorded without my permission.

Never having kids made life excruciating. I gave up on the women I wanted to bear my kid or kids because no matter how passionate I felt towards her, I would never be satisfied until I had something to call my legacy. I wanted a child, and I didn't care if it was a boy or a girl. He or she was enough for me to die without any regrets. I could have all the brains I wanted in the world, have all the money I could ever want, and do all the research I could to try and find a cure, but I knew I could never achieve inner peace. I would die without any children to have my blood, my name, and my title. My personal legacy would end, but I wanted it to go on long after I was gone.

Ex was the key. I had planned to train him as my blood years ago, but I was pressured by Alexander and Blake not to. They were afraid that I would alter his mind and change his thought pattern. I called them fools for thinking such a notion, yet I left Ex alone. They were already bringing him up their own way. If I started to play interference then I would risk Ex's mind being torn between what he thought was right and what he thought was wrong. For the most part, I kept away from him and advised him only on certain elements.

That never stopped me from thinking of him as my son. We looked nothing alike and shared nothing in common. He was the average teenager and I was the typical scientist and researcher in his late forties. We expected Ex to live longer than the average person, but I knew I would never come close to his life span, and so I tried to act like a father to him--even if I was a sort of distanced, unsure father figure.

My fight felt in vain. I was less of a father than I thought. Alexander and Blake were closer to being guardians than I was at being a relative, and I hated and liked them for it. They did something I couldn't bring myself to do, and I was proud of them for it even if I was envious of them.

Dartha and her soldiers wouldn't live to tell anyone of this news anyway. I looked at them one last time, making sure to catch perfect glimpses of their faces and bodies before turning my back to them.

She sneered. "So, you tell us your big secret and walk out? What game are you playing, Kindle?"

I chuckled without facing her. "Oh, I'm playing no game, Dartha. Just...save your breath."

With that, I walked out of the room and shut the door behind. The guards remained guarding right at the entrance, keeping their guns propped against their soldiers at a very respectable stance.

"Gas the room," I ordered.

They looked at each other and then saluted me. I didn't have to wait long before one of them went over to the console and began to fiddle with the various codes placed upon the room. This wasn't just a place to house traitors. If they went against me and my authority, I had good reason to install something special in the room once the need came.

"Open the view hole," I stated, waiting a few seconds until a small glass hole opened up near the top of the door. I looked through it and saw Dartha and her men struggling against their restraints

Finally, the gas flooded into the room. It was a deep shade of blue with black specks for added measure, filling up the room practically to the brim, and I could expect the effects to start immediately. Not only would this paralyze their bodies but also cause the nervous and respiratory systems to fail entirely, not to mention speed up the decay of brain cells but one thousand percent. Their hearts would slowly stop beating and I would only have to wait half an hour until they were lifeless husks ready to be thrown out.

They struggled against their restraints to no avail. I could hear them cough and scream for help while the gas worked its designed magic. I could've gunned each and every one of them down, but I didn't want to get blood on my clothes. After what they did to me, did to Ex, I would not show them the same mercy considering they would've killed my creation without a second thought. They would suffer before they died, and I would watch as they cried out for help in their final moments.

I would give them no mercy. They didn't deserve it. They weren't fit to even stand in this base anymore, and I was going to make sure they would cease to be a nuisance to me. I left the area long before they died seeing as I had more pressing matters to attend to.

I clenched my fists while I walked past plenty of my soldiers. She tried to kill my greatest creation! She and her men almost came close to destroying over two decades worth of research just because they thought he was too much of a threat left unchecked in the real world. They failed to understand how important Ex was to mankind! He was the catalyst for our future! He would enhance our race in ways we could never fathom! The only problem right now was that we didn't have him now because they had to ruin our chances of creating more of him.

Stopping at one of the pillars against the wall, I leaned against it and let out a long, drawn out sigh. Should I activate it? For all I knew, Ex was either dead or struggling to live, or he was possibly in jail. Either way, I needed to bring him home no matter what. We still had much to do, and his reveal was two weeks away and we were no closer to understanding his true potential than he was. Despite all the data we had collected over his lifetime, we still didn't know how long he would live or if his body would maintain itself over the course of his life. There were still a plethora of variables we were unsure of.

We needed him to complete our research. The only backup I could think of was my failsafe. Even that was a risk. The dangers it could impose would prove to be even more catastrophic than Ex.

Still, what other option did I have?

I sighed. Ex was still out there, but I didn't have all the time in the world. Soon, the president would notice his officers missing and would target Delta indefinitely. We had an army, but they had an army and virtually unlimited funding. We were one small sect and they had ties all around the country and could eliminate us in just a few short hours.

Quickly, I paced back to my chambers. Hopefully professor Ariana had finished that new serum we had been trying to perfect. If it could indeed work, I wouldn't have to worry about the president getting on our tails and it would lessen the strain I was feeling right now. I would have one less headache to worry about for the time being.

It took several minutes of walking and bumping into soldiers before I finally reached my quarters again. Everything was as I left it. Immediately, I sat in my desk and began to work through the files, trying to gather as much as I could on Ex. His personality equaled that of the average teenager: unstable, hardheaded, tough, emotional, and passionate. Even though we had raised him in a secluded facility for his entire life, he still possessed the proper attitude for one of his kind somehow. That wasn't a bad thing, of course. We wanted him to think and act as normal as he could. He looked like a normal teenage boy aside from the wings on the outside, but he was genetically superior in all forms. He could put the top quarterback in the garbage disposal if he wanted. His brain was designed to work quick and think things through, yet he failed to use its true potential and acted brash on many occasions. Still, I expected this much from him. It turned to be no surprise why he fled. He wanted safety and comfort. Nobody wanted to die like some sort of caged animal.

My fingers stopped running along the keyboard. I sat there stiff as a board as I reached a new revelation.

Did he leave because he didn't want to die here? I could understand his haste if that was the case. We had kept him under lock for such a long time and the only time we had ever let him out was for his oxygen test the week prior. Did he want to see more of the open world? Was I too blind to see that he wanted freedom over imprisonment?

Wait, did I just call what we did to him imprisonment? No...No, no. I sat there in stunned silence. It was so quiet that I could hear the thud of my own heart. I thought...I thought what we were doing was right. I didn't want him to get hurt somehow, but we had injured him plenty of times over the course of his time in the facility. I didn't want to believe it but the evidence there was irrefutable.

We treated him like some sort of caged bird, and I was paying for it now. He left not only to stay alive but also because he wanted to see the rest of the world we failed to show him. Now I could see why he was always so angry towards me at times. He begged me to leave this facility because he was unhappy and frustrated at my own blind ignorance. Now that I could see why he was so frustrated towards me, I knew I had to make amends. He thought of himself as a prisoner and I as the warden keeping him from understanding the real world.

How...how could I be so blind to the truth? I wanted to make sure he was safe, yet I sacrificed his whole life just to keep him that way. I thought what I was doing was right, but I was instead wrong.

I had to find him, and I had to find him quick. The only way I could think of locating him was through my backup. My eyes drifted to the button I placed near the computer. Only the failsafe could find him. I had my own reasons not to activate it, but I was out of options. If there was any chance Ex is still alive, I wanted to make sure I could bring him home and apologize. He deserved that at least.

Slowly, I lifted the glass case above the button. My fingers hovered over the glowing thing. I was almost too afraid to push it. If I was going to activate my failsafe, I would have to sacrifice its own chances later. Ex was dangerous out there already, and I didn't need this one running around as well.

I pressed it. "Rose."

"Director."

_ _ "Meet me in the lower levels once the sun sets."